Improved condenser for steam-engines



No. 40,519. V PATENTBD NOV. 3, 186-3.

'1". B. STEVENS. CONDENSER PORVSTEAM ENGINES.

UNITED STAT S PATENT- F E-E FRANCIS B. sTEvENs, or NEWv Yonic, N. Y.

IMPROVED CONDENSER FOR. STEAM-ENGINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 40,6 I0, dated November-3, 1862i.

have invented a new and useful Improvement Steam-Engines; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon. It has heretofore been proposed to withdraw the steam from the cylinder of a steam-engine by two successive discharges by means of two sets of eduction-valves, the first set opening and closing before the last set commence to open. I will in this specification refer to this action as a double eduction, and I will call the first of the two successive discharges the first eduction, and I will call the other dis charge the second eduction.

My improvement consists in simplifying the apparatus that condenses the steam discharged by the first eduction from the cylinder of a condensing steam-engine by closing the hotwell of the engine against the atmosphere,

and by keeping a portion "of the space of the hot-well free from water, and by delivering the steam discharged from the cylinder by the first eduction into the hot-well, so that it may be condensed ,or partially condensed by the water delivered by the air-pump into the hot-well. I thus make the hot-well act also as an additional condenser and dispense altogether with ant-{additional air-pump to draw the Water from the additional condenser. I

This apparatus can be used in connection with a cooler. It then becomes an improved application of the combination ofa cooler with a double eduction, which I have described in. the specification of an application for a patent bearing even date herewith, or it can be used, when it is desired, to heat the feed-water by the steam discharged from the cylinder by the first eduction.

' Figure l is a vertical-sectional drawing of an application of my improvement.

A is the ordinary or common single-acting air-pump of a condensing-engine.

B is the delivery-valve of the pump. 4

U is the hot-well, closed against the atmosphere, and having a portion of its space free from water.

D is thepipe leading the steam discharged from the cyinder by the first eduction into the hot-well. I

E is the feed-pipe. 1 Y

F is the pipe for discharging the water from the hot-well into the cooler, this pipe being placed below the level of the feed-pipe.

G is a s ifting-valve placed above the level at which the water rises in the hot-well. The air or u'ncondensed vapor is shifted out of the hot-well through this valve by the compres sion of... this air by the volume of water discharged into the hot-well-from the air-pump.

The operation is as follows: The air-pump bucket is represented as being on its upstroke,

and the water delivered by the previous stroke of the pump is represented as having fallen to or nearly to the level of the feed-pipe. The

' water in the air-pump will thus be delivered into a portion of the space of the hot-well that contains only steam or uncondensed vapor, and in falling will be furtherheated by the steam discharged from the cylinder by the first eduction, by the pipe D, into the hot-well. The pipe F leads the water from the hot-well to the cooler, from whence it is returned to the ordinary or common condenser of the engine. The valve G must be so loaded as to rise when the delivery-valve B rises, and thus snift out the uncondensed vapor or air. A small air-pump placed in the same position as the shifting-valve can be used as an equiva lent for it.

If the object in delivering the steam dis charged from the cylinder by the first eduction into the hot-well is toheat the feed-water, then the pipeF is not used, but instead the discharge-pipe H (shown in dotted lines) will.

deliver the water into the atmosphere. This pipe must turn up, as shown, to close the hot well against the atmosphere, and to prevent air entering the hot-welhand it is'represented as delivering the water at a level above that at which the feed-pipe is attached, andthe.

valve G must be so loaded as to rise before there issufificient pressure in the hot-well for the air or vapor to be blown out through the pipe H.

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of another application of my improvement. .The same letters of reference are usedas inFig. 1, but

the form 6f the hot-well aud-5of.- the delivery:

.2. The applieation aml.-1rse-t0,'and .in'the supplying of, a cooler with \vaterheated in the hot-well by the steam discharged from the cylinderby the firstednetiontin the manner herein described.

V 3. I i connection with delivering the steam discharged By 'the first eduletioir'in'tqthe hotwell, the arrangement of the pipe for drawing oflc' the water from the hot-well into a cooler, and also the arrangement of the pipe for drawing efl' the water freni the hot-well into the atmosphere, and 'hlso the arrangement of the shifting-valve or its equivalent, in the mannerherein described?I FRANCIS B. STEVENS.

Witnesses:

JAMES A STEVENS, V a v ALBERT SEASUM. 

